Some landscapes that have significant value to people are protected through statute. Protected landscapes that serve as popular recreational resources and destinations hold significant use values for the people that visit them. Recognition of these recreational benefits of protected landscapes provides a sound economic rationale for their management. This paper provides estimates of the potential magnitude of recreational value via benefit transfers of Taal Volcano Protected Landscape in the Philippines - a major tourist attraction and designated as one of the key priority biodiversity areas for protection. Taal Volcano Protected Landscape is a popular area for recreation activities such as hiking, day-camping, picnicking, bird watching, horseback riding, fishing, boating, wind surfing, sailing, rowing, and kayaking. Benefit transfer is the use of information from research conducted on other sites (i.e., the study sites) to pose questions at a site (i.e., Taal Volcano Protected Landscape, the policy site) that lacks primary research. Benefit transfer approaches include: 1) transferring of values or functions from a single site or set of similar sites, and 2) estimating a meta-regression transfer function that can be used to predict values for the policy site in question. One study site in the Philippines was selected and used in a point estimate transfer application. Likewise, a meta-regression transfer function model was estimated based on selected study sites from the US. These study sites were selected based on their similarity in terms of recreation activity, climate, and/or site characteristics with that of the Taal Volcano Protected Landscape. Furthermore, implicit price deflators and purchasing power parity are incorporated to account for income and cost of living differences between the study and policy sites. Exogenous factors, such as differences in individual preferences, cultural, and institutional conditions between the Philippines and the United States are beyond the scope of this paper, but these have the potential to invalidate the result of an international benefit transfer. Results show that point estimate transfer approach provided a better estimate of access value than meta-regression benefit function transfer approach. While in-sample benefit transfer predictions of the metaregression model show an absolute percentage transfer error of 18%, the simple out-of-sample prediction result has very high absolute percentage transfer error (1,231%). Hence, in policy application, a model with more than 100% transfer error is not suggested. The estimated welfare estimate of recreational access using point estimate transfer was P36/person per trip in 2006. The aggregated recreational benefits at the Taal Volcano Protected Landscape in 2006 was P9.7 million from 155,701 visitors at the Batangas side and P118.9 million from 1,906,242 visitors at the Cavite side, for a sum of about P128 million. This access value is not equivalent to economic resources that can be generated when visitor use fees is imposed to the users. User fees should be based on a willingness-to-pay (WTP) study that captures public perceptions and WTP fees, among others.

Botryococcus braunii, a green colonial freshwater microalga that is currently found in Paoay Lake, Ilocos Norte, is recognized as a renewable source of energy. The monthly abundance and distribution of B. braunii in the lake in relation to the different physico-chemical parameters and other phytoplankton species were done from April 2009 to March 2010. Throughout the period of study, analysis of samples showed that B. braunii populations were present in all samples collected in the four sampling sites. Changes in cell density were noticeable, especially during the months of April and August. The highest recorded mean density was in August (2515 cells /mL) while the lowest mean density was in May (83 cells/mL). There were 38 genera of phytoplankton that co-existed with B. braunii in the lake. Physico-chemical parameters and nutrients were still within the range for growth of the alga. Fluctuations of these nutrients may be caused by seasonal variation and the occurrence of typhoons in the region. Growth of B. braunii population is positively correlated with temperature, conductivity and phytoplankton count while it is negatively correlated with DO, pH, transparency depth, NO₃-, and PO₄³. Although B. braunii populations were present within the water column throughout the sampling period, the present environmental conditions did not allow the formation of blooms of this algal species.

Freshwater zooplankton in tropical caldera lakes with intensive aquaculture are exposed to physical, chemical, and biological influences that have differences with other lake types. This study compares the diel vertical migration of crustacean zooplankton between aquaculture and aquaculture-free areas in a tropical caldera lake (Lake Taal, Philippines). Environmental conditions showed little variation in both basins, and crustacean zooplankton showed similar DVM patterns. Wind-induced water movements, volcanic inputs and zooplankton exposure to similar levels of predation influenced zooplankton DVM in the lake. The zooplankton DVM patterns confirm that there is homogeneity in zooplankton composition and distribution in aquaculture and aquaculture-free areas.

An investigation on the dominance and percent cover of macrophytes and invasive plant species in Lake Buluan, Sultan Kudarat was undertaken. Six sampling stations were surveyed, namely, LAT2, MAR1, SP7, SP8, CEN5, and CEN6. Coordinates of the different species were recorded and analyzed using ARC GIS to determine the percent cover of plants. Nelumbo sp., a native plant of Lake Buluan, occupies 39.21% of the area studied (Fig. 1). This is followed by Brachiaria and Eichhornia with 23.95% and 20.44%, respectively. Other species have the following percent cover: Phragmites, 8.68%, Ipomea, 3.84%, Scirpus, 3.55%, and Nymphea, 0.34%. On the other hand, two Sesbania sesban plants and an estimate of ten Polygonim barbatum plants were also identified. On the other hand, Eichhornia crassipes has a percent cover of 20.44% and is known to be an invasive plant commonly found in freshwater ecosystems. Along with invasive macrophytes are fauna species that may be associated with the different plant species identified, hence, a study about this is recommended. Because only the Sultan Kudarat area of the lake was surveyed, the Maguindanao area must be studied as well.

The academic institutions from Japan, the Research Institute for Nature and Humanities (RIHN) and the Yokohama National University (YNU) provided a four-year (2010-2013) research fund and engaged the College of Agriculture-UPLB, the College of Medicine, University of the Philippines Manila (UPM), and LLDA, to conduct the first ever comprehensive integrated and multi-disciplinary researches on ecology-related food and human health risks for the establishment of science-based decision making and policies to protect the environment for sustainable urbanization and land use development in and around the Laguna Lake Region. The pilot study is a GIS-based risk mapping and assessment of the Sta. Rosa-Silang sub-watershed to provide basis for trans-boundary risk management of sub-watershed resources. This hopes to reduce the threats and impacts of climate change related flooding on urban investment, food security, health security, and, on the overall quality of life and environment in Sta. Rosa City, located downstream of the Sta. Rosa-Silang sub-watershed. The study likewise provided the graphic illustration of trans-boundary roles and ecological interconnectivity, as well as positive complementation between sustainable farming systems in the headwaters and modern urbanization in the lower portions managed by two politically separate LGUs belonging to different towns and provinces. The GIS-based risk based technical evaluation maps clearly identify the phenomenon called landscape inversion which manifested itself as alluvial fan formation with special recognizable footprints for high flood risk areas. Ultimately, the overlaying of GIS maps contributed to the (a) scientific explanation about the anomalies of river system, (b) possible maximum coverage of old Laguna Lake and location of its original boundaries, (c) areas whose groundwater are most likely vulnerable to groundwater contamination; and (d) explanation to massive flood and spatially redefine the old Laguna Lake water lines as the aftermath of super typhoon Ondoy.